MOBILE, Alabama – At age 63, the Rev. Joseph Day stood in front of a bulldozer for 7 ½ hours to save a lake in Midtown Mobile that today bears his name. The bold move was not unusual for the pastor and family man who had been standing up to injustice from the time he was young.

"He was an activist. He was a leader. He was a crusader, a trailblazer," said Day's son, the Rev. Wiley Day Sr., of his father, who died on Wednesday, June 25. Day was 86.

The lake protest came in 1991 during a Corps of Engineers project to dredge and widen Three Mile Creek, located just behind Mobile Infirmary in Midtown. The dredging would also have backfilled a rare spring-fed lake nearby. Recognizing the lake's significance, Day gathered more than 200 signatures to present to the city in support of the lake.

On the day that bulldozers were set to begin work, Day positioned himself in front of them – for more than seven hours. "He was willing to be a living sacrifice," said Wiley Day. "They would have to run over him if they wanted to fill the lake in."

In the end, the Mobile City Council voted to preserve the lake and even approved $990,000 for boardwalks and informational signs on local flora and fauna. It was renamed Day Lake in his honor.

Born one of eight children in Marengo County, Day grew up in Toulminville, a contemporary of baseball great Hank Aaron. The two belonged to the same church, Greater Morning Star Missionary Baptist.

Like many of the neighborhood kids, Day played baseball, sometimes with broom handles, bottle tops, even golf balls. "Most people around here know he was some pitcher," said Wiley Day. "He always told the story that he would pitch golf balls to Hank Aaron."

As a teenager, Day worked work as a caddy for golfers in Midtown. Even then, he was industrious, gathering lost golf balls to sell. In one instance, a white golfer insisted that the caddy turn over his stash, but Day refused. "That was defiant back then," his son said. The golfer threw a club in anger and called police.

With a seventh-grade education, Day went to work at Brookley Air Force Base two days before Christmas in 1948. He worked as a painter and mechanic, staying until the base closed in 1969. During his time at Brookley, he married his wife, Ruby.

The family owned a home, but succumbed to the pressure to sell when the Roger Williams housing project was built. Wiley Day recalled his father leading political meetings at their house. "I can recall the conversation was about voting and getting enough people for the union," he said.

When Brookley closed, Day transferred to what is now Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins, Ga. The rest of the family remained behind in Mobile.

While living in Macon, Ga., Day stayed active in local issues as executive director of the Macon chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In a newspaper photo, he is shown in his signature fedora walking a picket line, holding a sign that read, "We want good jobs now."

In Macon, he also answered the call to preach. The decision didn't surprise his mother, who had told him as a young man that he would become a minister, his children said.

His daughter, Melvia Clemmons, recalled her father seeking confirmation to start a new congregation, House of Joshua. "He called all six children and gave us a scripture, and we had to come back with an interpretation," she said. "It was confirmation of what he was yet to do." Day was ordained in 1976.

Clemmons said her father retired after 40 years of civil service, rising to production management specialist. He then spent 17 years working for Volkert Inc. in Mobile. Day also founded the House of Joshua Christian Center Church, where he served as senior pastor until his death. Today, a wooden sign on the pulpit reads, "Rev. Joseph Day."

Today the Day family boasts several ministers, including three of Day's children, four of his grandchildren and one of his great-grandchildren. His daughter, House of Joshua Assistant Pastor Flora Reiss, will now become senior pastor.

"One of the most important things was that he was a devoted father and husband," his son said. "He instilled in his children the sanctity of family."

Day's children described their father as a man of integrity, one whose word was his bond. Clemmons said he was soft-spoken, but carried a big stick. In the pulpit he was dramatic. During a sermon about Jesus calming the sea, Wiley Day said his father would remark that Christ "took the bark out of lightning."

"That was very characteristic of his style," he said.

On a recent Sunday – more than a year after losing his wife -- Day told his children, "I had a talk with Jesus, and Jesus said, 'Joseph, it's not your time yet,'" Clemmons said. A few days later, when he was late for an event, family members found him collapsed in his home. He was buried in his characteristic three-piece suit and hat.

"Before he died, he told the accountant that God gave him everything he promised him, except one thing: He thought he would die before his wife," Wiley Day said.

(Carol McPhail welcomes your suggestions for Life Stories. Email her at cmcphail@al.com)